Army Staff Sgt. Christopher D. Worrell

Died April 22, 2010 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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35, of Virginia Beach, Va.; assigned to the 702nd Combat Support Battalion, 4th Stryker Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.; died April 22 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries sustained in a non-combat-related incident.

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‘An amazing soldier, and an even better father’

The Associated Press

Chris Worrell could often be spotted in the spin class his wife taught at the YMCA, usually as one of her students.

David and Vivian Kind of Lakewood, Wash., wrote in an online memorial that they met Worrell and his wife, Laura, in 2007. They recalled him as a man who loved his family and his country.

“Chris was always a gentleman in class, always willing to lend a helping hand,” the Kinds wrote. “Chris and Laura were great together, the hero and the teacher.”

Worrell, 35, of Virginia Beach, Va., died April 22 in Baghdad of injuries sustained in a noncombat-related incident. He was assigned to Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. His family said he died while on his third tour of duty in Iraq, where he had been since September.

The soldier’s brother, Patrick Worrell, said Chris graduated from Green Run High School. He had been in the military for 13 years.

“He planned on it being what he did with his life,” Patrick Worrell said. “He was just very happy to serve.”

Jeremy McGill of Marietta, Ohio, wrote in an online memorial that Worrell was “an amazing soldier, and an even better father” to his two sons, ages 12 and 5.

“He always had a smile on his face, no matter where we were,” McGill wrote.